Systems, methods, and machine-readable storage media for interfacing with a computer flight system

ABSTRACT

Provided herein are systems, methods and machine-readable media for interfacing with computer flight systems. For example, one embodiment is described wherein an unknown and/or changing inventory of aircraft, potentially including aircraft owned or operated by third parties, is managed to provide flight schedules, fare structures, and reservation inventories to computer flight systems. Another embodiment is described wherein aircraft inventory is allocated dynamically and/or adjusted in real-time in response to bookings of seats on aircraft flights in the flight schedule. Another embodiment is described wherein aircraft inventory may be changed by suppliers of aircraft, including changes to costs for using a portion of the inventory (e.g., using an aircraft for a day), and a management system may modify booking class inventories on one or more flights in the flight schedule in response.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/US2011/035916, filed May 10, 2011, and entitled “Systems, Methods,and Machine-Readable Storage Media for Interfacing with a ComputerFlight System”, which itself claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/333,452 entitled “System and Method to Schedule andMarket Air Transportation Services,” by Maguire et al. and filed May 11,2010. International Application No. PCT/US2011/035916 is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

At least some embodiments of this disclosure relate to computer flightsystems and interfaces between those systems and computer or informationprocessing systems of other business entities.

BACKGROUND

Computer flight systems provide services for centralized reservations ofseats, such as on aircraft flights. Commercial airlines and certainother types of operators have adapted to interface with these computerflight systems, while other types of operators are unable to participatewith at least a portion of the functionality of the computer flightsystem(s).

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

Systems, methods and machine-readable storage media for interfacing withcomputer flight systems in accordance with the present disclosure aredescribed herein. Some embodiments are summarized in this section.

In one embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes receiving anindication of a booking on a first aircraft flight, determining, via adata processing system, that the booking causes a change in a physicalcapacity of a second aircraft flight that shares no common physicalflight leg with the first aircraft flight, and instructing, based on thechange in the physical capacity, a computer flight system to update areservation inventory of the second aircraft flight.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes receiving anindication of a booking on a first aircraft flight, determining, via adata processing system, that the booking causes a change in availabilityfor an aircraft, and instructing, based on the change in availability, acomputer flight system to update a reservation inventory of a secondaircraft flight.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes receiving anindication of a booking on a first aircraft flight, calculating, via adata processing system, a cost to operate a second aircraft flight basedon the booking, and instructing, based on the cost, a computer flightsystem to remove at least one seat from a first booking class inventoryfor the second aircraft flight and to add at least one seat to a secondbooking class inventory for the second aircraft flight.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes creating, via adata processing system, a flight schedule including a plurality ofaircraft flights, and sending the flight schedule and a booking classinventory associated with one of the plurality of aircraft flights to acomputer flight system. The method further includes, receiving, via thedata processing system, information about a cost or an availability ofan aircraft, and indicating to the computer flight system, in responseto the information, an update to the booking class inventory.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes tracking, via adata processing system, an aircraft inventory comprising a plurality ofaircraft including a first aircraft, maintaining, via the dataprocessing system, a plurality of booking class inventories for aplurality of flights including a first flight, wherein the plurality ofbooking class inventories includes a first booking class inventory forthe first flight and a second booking class inventory for the firstflight, and, in response to a bid related to the first aircraft,updating the plurality of booking class inventories by assigning atleast one available seat on the first flight from the first bookingclass inventory to the second booking class inventory.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes tracking, via adata processing system, an aircraft inventory comprising a plurality ofaircraft including a first aircraft, maintaining, via the dataprocessing system, a plurality of booking class inventories for aplurality of flights including a first flight, wherein the plurality ofbooking class inventories includes a first booking class inventory forthe first flight and a second booking class inventory for the firstflight, and, in response to an update to cost or availabilityinformation related to the first aircraft, updating the plurality ofbooking class inventories by assigning at least one available seat onthe first flight from the first booking class inventory to the secondbooking class inventory.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a data processing systemthat includes memory for storing an aircraft inventory comprising aplurality of aircraft including a first aircraft, and further storing aplurality of booking class inventories for a plurality of flightsincluding a first flight. The data processing system includes at leastone processor coupled to access the memory, the at least one processorconfigured to perform a method. The method includes tracking theaircraft inventory, maintaining the plurality of booking classinventories for a plurality of flights including the first flight,wherein the plurality of booking class inventories includes a firstbooking class inventory for the first flight and a second booking classinventory for the first flight, and, in response to a bid related to thefirst aircraft, updating the plurality of booking class inventories byassigning at least one available seat on the first flight from the firstbooking class inventory to the second booking class inventory.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes sending to acomputer flight system a flight schedule including a plurality ofaircraft flights with a corresponding plurality of booking classinventories, wherein the plurality of aircraft flights share no commonphysical flight leg with each other, receiving, via a data processingsystem, an indication of an update to availability or cost for anaircraft related to at least one of the plurality of flights, andmaintaining, via the data processing system, the plurality of bookingclass inventories based on the indication.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes maintaining, viaa data processing system, a pool of provisional flights, receiving a bidor a booking, and, in response to receiving the bid or the booking,modifying at least one booking class inventory for at least one flightin the pool of provisional flights.

In another embodiment, the disclosure describes a method, which may beimplemented on a computer, whereby the method includes sending to acomputer flight system a flight schedule including a plurality ofprovisional aircraft flights, and receiving an indication of either abid for a cost of operating an aircraft related to a first provisionalaircraft flight of the plurality of provisional aircraft flights or abooking of a seat on the first provisional aircraft flight. The methodfurther includes maintaining, via a data processing system, a bookingclass inventory for a second provisional aircraft flight of theplurality of provisional aircraft flights, wherein the maintainingincludes sending an indication to the computer flight system to modifythe booking class inventory based on the indication.

Other embodiments and features of the present disclosure will beapparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detaileddescription that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation inthe figures of the accompanying drawings in which like referencesindicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an interface with a computer flightsystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a method for interfacing with acomputer flight system through updating a booking class inventory withthe computer flight system.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a method for interfacing with acomputer flight system through maintaining a pool of flights.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method for interfacing with acomputer flight system through modifying levels of service of a futurecommitted aircraft flight.

FIGS. 5-10 show various embodiments for managing a plurality ofprovisional flights and commitments of aircraft to certain aircraftflights.

FIG. 11 is schematic representation of an embodiment of a computersystem for interfacing with a computer flight system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not tobe construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding. However, in certain instances,well-known or conventional details are not described in order to avoidobscuring the description. References to one or an embodiment in thepresent disclosure are not necessarily references to the sameembodiment; and, such references mean at least one.

Provided herein are systems, methods and machine-readable media forinterfacing with computer flight systems. For example, one embodiment isdescribed wherein an unknown and/or changing inventory of aircraft,potentially including aircraft owned or operated by third parties, ismanaged to provide flight schedules, fare structures, and reservationinventories to computer flight systems. Another embodiment is describedwherein aircraft inventory is allocated dynamically and/or adjusted inreal-time in response to bookings of seats on aircraft flights in theflight schedule. Another embodiment is described wherein aircraftinventory may be changed by suppliers of aircraft, including changes tocosts for using a portion of the inventory (e.g., using an aircraft fora day), and a management system may modify booking class inventories onone or more flights in the flight schedule in response. Anotherembodiment is described that is adapted to mitigate financial risks ofoperating at least a portion of the flight schedule, including throughmodifying reservation inventories, modifying booking class inventories,instructing certain aircraft to fly certain flights and/or instructingcertain aircraft not to fly certain flights. Another embodiment isdescribed for managing computer flight systems for items other thanaircraft flights, such as tickets for bus or train travel.

For example, methods for maintaining relationships between flights andfor managing aircraft inventories with respect to those flights, asdescribed further herein, may be used for maintaining relationshipsbetween travel on other vehicles or other modes of transport and may beused for managing other transportation vehicle inventories. Similarly,systems and machine-readable media adapted to implement some of themethods described further herein may be applied to interfacing withcomputer flight systems for other transportation modes, and reservationsmay be booked that need not necessarily relate to seats on thesetransportation modes. For example, reservations for rooms and/or cargoareas for lading on a ship may be booked as described further herein.Some examples of vehicles and other transportation modes includeautomobiles, taxis, buses, trains, ships, ferries, and shuttle services.As described herein, booking class inventories are discussed withrespect to aircraft flights, but that other types of reservationclassifications may be used for other forms of transport.

Computer flight systems include flight publishing systems, computerreservations systems known as “CRS”, and global distribution systemsknown as “GDS”, such as Sabre. These computer flight systems may publishflight information and/or make available bookings of seats on behalf ofoperators of the flights (e.g., commercial airlines). Users of acomputer flight system view the details of the flights and the users mayinclude several industry entities such as individual purchasers,potential passengers, corporate or volume purchasers, travel agents,reservation assistants, and automated systems. Each user may interactwith the computer flight system to search for aircraft flights withinthe flight schedule matching certain criteria (e.g., origin/destinationpair, time of flight) and having available seats in one or more bookingclass inventories, as listed under certain booking class codes. Systems,methods and machine-readable media described herein may communicate witha computer flight system directly or indirectly, such as throughcommunications conduits and/or intermediate systems that, in turn,communicate with the computer flight system.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an interface 100 with a computer flightsystem 106. The interface 100 includes a management system 104 thatcommunicates with one or more aircraft suppliers 102 to provide data tothe computer flight system 106. The interface 100 as shown includes aschematic representations of communications channels (e.g., connectingmanagement system 104 with computer flight system 106) which may beimplemented as a distributed system and/or connected in multipledifferent manners. Each of the communications channels between themanagement system 104, the aircraft suppliers 102, and the computerflight system 106 may be electronic communications channels, such ascomputer networks. For example, the communications between themanagement system 104 and the computer flight system 106 may utilizecomputer networks, including several types of networks, processorsand/or data storage devices. Thus, embodiments of the disclosure are notlimited to a particular architecture. In some embodiments, aclient-server architecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, or somecombination thereof can be used, in which one or more centralizedservers may be used to provide some of the information and/or servicesand the peer to peer network may be used to provide other informationand/or services. For example, a centralized server can be used toreceive and/or aggregate data from suppliers 102, while processing maybe performed by computer(s) operating as a client.

In one embodiment, the computer flight system 106 may expect thatmanagement system 104 is a typical provider of data, such as a scheduledair carrier or commercial airline, and may only accept certain inputdata types. For example, computer flight systems 106 may provide certainrules about how information from providers of flights, such ascommercial airlines, charter operations operators, or others must beformatted for acceptance by the computer flight system. Some standardinput data include a flight schedule, a fare structure, a reservationinventory of available seats in one or more booking classes associatedwith flights in the flight schedule wherein those available seats areoffered for booking through class codes recognized by the computerflight system. The computer flight system 106 may provide informationabout bookings made on flights to outside entities, and a managementsystem 104 may receive this information from the computer flight system,such as over a network. Information received may take several forms,such as an indication of a booking, or indirect information from which abooking may be inferred.

One exemplary set of input data includes a flight schedule of futureflights. A flight schedule may include aspects of future flights such asorigin and destination locations (e.g., airports), dates of aircraftflights, times of aircraft flights, aircraft type, aircraftconfiguration, passenger terminal, in-flight service, reservationbooking designators, and/or traffic restriction codes. Flight schedulesmay include some of these data and may omit other data. In someembodiments, the flight schedule may be formatted in a manner similar oridentical to formatting for a computer flight system 106. For example,the flight schedule may be formatted similarly or so as to be compatiblewith a computer flight system 106 (e.g., a CRS system). In someembodiments, a flight schedule may be transmitted to a computer flightsystem 106 and later retrieved by the management system 104 to confirmthat the management system has a consistent copy of the flight schedule.

Another exemplary set of input data includes a fare structure includingfares, booking class codes, and/or restrictions for seats on aircraftflights and/or itineraries. For example, a fare structure may includemultiple fares relating to multiple booking classes of tickets for anaircraft flight. In one embodiment, a fare structure includes at leasttwo classes of tickets and an associated fare for each class of ticket.As described further herein, multiple booking classes may be used toadjust the fare or the selling price for booking an available seat on anaircraft flight, such as selecting a fare based on a cost for operatingthe aircraft flight.

Another exemplary set of input data includes a reservation inventory fora flight represented by a number of booking classes for the flight and anumber of seats available on the flight for each booking class. Abooking class inventory is a set of seats that are available in a singlebooking class and a reservation inventory for a flight is a collectionof one or more booking class inventories for that flight. For example, areservation inventory for a flight may include five booking classinventories for that flight. Available seats on a flight may be offeredfor bookings through these one or more booking class inventories, witheach booking class inventory indicating an availability of seats forthat booking class. In some instances, one booking class on a particularflight may have no available seats, and therefore may have a bookingclass inventory of zero seats, whereas a different booking class on thesame flight may have several available seats offered for bookings and apositive booking class inventory. As described further herein, a bookingclass inventory may be updated to add or remove an available seat for aflight, and the reservation inventory for that flight may be increasedor reduced, respectively, by that one available seat. For example, fouravailable seats may be added to one booking class inventory for aflight, twelve available seats may be added to a second booking classinventory for the flight, and the reservation inventory for the flightmay thereby be increased by sixteen available seats. As another example,also described further herein, an available seat may be removed from onebooking class inventory of a flight and may be added to another bookingclass inventory of the flight, thereby modifying the reservationinventory and the two booking class inventories, while leaving unchangedthe total number of available seats for the flight.

In one embodiment, a flight may have available seats in only one bookingclass inventory of several booking class inventories, each correspondingto a fare associated with costs of serving the first booking (e.g., afirst booking of one or more seats) on the flight or asubsequently-booked seat on the flight. For example, a flight may have25 available seats, and all may be part of a single booking classinventory before a first booking is received for the flight. After thefirst booking is received, as described further herein, all of theremaining available seats are removed from the single booking classinventory and are allocated to another booking class inventory. Inanother embodiment, a flight may have available seats in more than onebooking class inventory simultaneously.

A purchaser 112, an agent 110 (e.g., someone purchasing a ticket onbehalf of a passenger), or other sales channels 114 may be offeredbookings for the entire reservation inventory (e.g., all booking classesthat have available seats) for the aircraft flight. For example, areservation inventory may include available seats in only one bookingclass at any time, resulting in a ticket being offered for sale at onlyone fare at a time. Such fares may be described in an associated farestructure. In one embodiment, different booking classes will representdifferent levels of service as perceived by the passenger, such as, forexample, a difference in seating space. In another embodiment, differentbooking classes may represent a non-stop routing, a single-stop routing,or a multiple-stop routing (e.g., associated with multiple differentflight numbers). In another embodiment, different booking classesrepresent similar or the same level of service as perceived by thepassenger.

The computer flight system 106 may maintain the reservation inventorythrough modifying a booking class inventory based on instructions fromusers of the system, such as to reserve an available seat. In oneembodiment, as described further herein, one or more booking classinventories may be modified by the management system 104. For example, amanagement system 104 may wish to update the available seats in abooking class inventory as published by the computer flight system 106,such as in response to a booking of a seat, or in response to themanagement system determining a new cost associated with the flight, asdescribed further herein. For example, the management system 104 mayreceive an indication that an available seat has been booked (e.g., anotice from the computer flight system 106), and the management systemmay determine that one or more adjustments should be made to one or morebooking class inventories based on that indication. As described furtherherein, the management system 104 may responsively send an instructionto the computer flight system 106 to modify the number of availableseats within a booking class inventory that is published by the computerflight system.

The system includes suppliers 102 of aircraft, such as jets 120, 124,turbo-props, or helicopters 122. In general, suppliers 102 include anyentity that controls or manages one or more aircraft, such as a jet 120.For example, a supplier 102 may own, lease or otherwise have controlsufficient to schedule the use of the aircraft. A supplier 102 may be anaircraft charter operation operator and may operate through sellingindividual days of use of an aircraft, such as jet 124 from a particularorigin. A supplier 102 may operate through leasing or selling otherportions or uses of its aircraft inventory. For example, a supplier maylease or sell use of an aircraft by the hour, by the distance travelled,and/or by the number of flights or flight-legs travelled. In oneembodiment, a supplier 102 may use the management system 104 to managethe use of the supplier's own aircraft.

In one embodiment, a supplier 102 of aircraft may control a singleinventory of aircraft, such as jets 120 and helicopter 122. For example,a supplier 102 may own aircraft and may not control any other aircraft.In another embodiment, a supplier 102 may own aircraft and transact(e.g., lease, partially own) other aircraft such that the suppliermanages more than one inventory. For example, a first supplier 102 mayhave another jet 124, for which a day of use is transacted (e.g., sold)to a second supplier 102, thereby creating a combined inventory for thesecond supplier that also contains the jet 124.

Suppliers 102 may provide use of their aircraft to the management system104 in exchange for fees. For example, a supplier 102 may offer the useof an aircraft for a day, starting at an originating location for a fee,a fee which may be the same as or different from a fee charged foranother sale of a day's use of the aircraft (e.g., a charter sale). Inone embodiment, the supplier 102 may enter into a contract with themanagement system 104 that allows the management system to control theuse of the aircraft (e.g., jet 124) for a day starting at an originatingairport. The contract may be formed such that the management system 104may execute and/or enforce the contract (e.g., to commit an airplane tofly a certain aircraft flight). For example, the contract may beexecuted by the management system 104 in response to certain informationreceived, such as a booking of a seat on a flight or a change of statusof a flight, as described further herein. These and other occurrences orinformation may trigger a contract to form, be executed, and/or becomeenforceable.

Contracts between the management system 104 and various suppliers 102may set forth rules regarding how a supplier may offer to the managementsystem a bid (e.g., for a cost to the management system) for using anavailable aircraft, such as for the day. This bid will be any indicationsufficient to inform the management system 104 of a cost for the use ofan available aircraft under certain restrictions. For example, a bid maybe an indication of a price that the supplier 102 is willing to receive,at least at the present time, to cause an available aircraft (e.g., anairplane) to be operated under the direction of the management system104. Relationships and/or contracts between the management system 104and various suppliers of aircraft 102 may differ from supplier tosupplier.

In addition to presenting the management system 104 with bids foraircraft, the supplier 102 may provide availability parameters as partof the bid. In one embodiment, a bid from a supplier 102 may be for oneaircraft with certain constraints on its use. In another embodiment, abid from a supplier 102 may be for multiple aircraft. For example, a bidmay be for a single unit or grouping of multiple aircraft. As anotherexample, a bid may be for individual aircraft with a certain maximumnumber of aircraft available. As another example, a bid may be forindividual aircraft, and the bid may be conditioned on a certain minimumnumber of aircraft used and a maximum number of aircraft available. Inone embodiment, a bid may contain certain conditions. In anotherembodiment, a bid may have different prices based on whether a conditionis met or is not met. For example, a bid may contain a price for use ofan aircraft if a certain number of aircraft are used and a price for useof an aircraft if that number (e.g., or a lesser number) are used. Inone embodiment, the management system 104 may receive from a supplier102 an indication of a maximum financial risk related to the supplier'sbids. For example, a supplier 102 may indicate a certain total value ofcommitments that the supplier is willing to have outstanding to themanagement system 104 at any one time. For example, a supplier 102 maywish to limit the total dollar value of committed aircraft to onehundred thousand dollars, such as may be reached when the managementsystem 104 accepts five bids with a total value of one hundred thousanddollars. In one embodiment, the supplier 102 may indicate certainconditions on a total value amount, such as a maximum financial risk forbids accepted for operations during a certain timeframe. For example, asupplier 102 may indicate that bids accepted by the management system104 that commit aircraft of the supplier to fly may not exceed twomillion dollars for a given time period of commitments, such as twomillion dollars per month. In one embodiment, an indication of maximumfinancial risk is a condition on the supplier's bid, as describedfurther herein, such that the bid may only be accepted by the managementsystem 104 (e.g., and the aircraft committed to fly) if doing so doesnot exceed the maximum financial risk indicated by the supplier 102.

The management system 104 may establish with particular rules oroperating parameters as to when bids and/or availability of aircraft maybe changed by the suppliers 102. In one embodiment, the managementsystem 104 may only accept bid updates and/or availability updates thatmeet these criteria. In another embodiment, the management system 104may accept a bid update and/or an availability update within certainparameters without a fee or with a lower fee and may accept the sameupdate outside those parameters for a fee or a larger fee.

In one embodiment, a bid may include availability information for anaircraft and may be combined with cost of using the aircraft. Forexample, the combination may include a contingent availability based ona certain associated cost or range of costs. A combination ofavailability and cost may include a temporal component, such thatavailability may be offered at a first price, but eventually accepted atanother price. As another example, a bid may be in the form of anauction bid. In another embodiment, a bid may include a range of costsoffered to the management system 104 or a best offer.

In some embodiments, the supplier 102 may be the same entity or aportion of the entity that operates the management system 104. Forexample, the management system 104 may have a subsidiary or relatedcompany that owns, leases or manages the aircraft. Bids for aircraftbetween related companies may appear in formats specific to theparticular relationship between the supplier 102 and the entityoperating the management system 104. For example, the management system104 may register a bid from a supplier 102 that is independent from theoperator of the management system in a format of monetary exchange,e.g., currency or credits. As another example, a management system 104that is operated by an entity related to the supplier 102 (e.g., relatedcompany, subsidiary, business division) may rely on aninternally-recognized format for accepting the bid.

A bid may be associated with any number of constraints set forth by thesupplier 102, requested by the management system 104 (e.g., through arequest), and/or agreed upon by the management system and the supplier(e.g., in a contract). For example, a bid may relate to a particulardate which the aircraft will be used, such as a cost to use the aircrafton that date. As another example, a bid may relate to a particularaircraft with a certain capacity or number of available seats, and withparticular operating requirements (e.g., crew fatigue, work rules,operating time). As another example, a bid may relate to a location orlocations that the aircraft may originate from. In one embodiment, a bidmay have a range of constraint(s), such as a date range or a range ofaircraft/capacities. In another embodiment, a bid may relate only to asingle aircraft, a single date, and/or a single originating location.For example, the management system 104 may require that bids relate onlyto a specific aircraft, but may allow ranges of dates and/or multiplepossible originating locations. As other examples, constraints on a bidmay include operating airport, aircraft capacity, length of crew dutyday, outstanding financial balance, number of weekly operations in acity pair.

The management system 104 receives bids from one or more suppliers 102and processes these bids, as described further herein. For example, themanagement system 104 may compare bids for aircraft with similarconstraints (e.g., same date, same originating location) and/or aircraftthat can operate similar or the same flights in a flight schedule. Inone embodiment, a management system 104 may compare the bids (e.g.,costs to the management system) to use two different aircraft (e.g.,from different suppliers 102 or from the same supplier) for similar orthe same flights. For example, an aircraft may have particularconstraints, which may be physical constraints or imposed by thesupplier 102, that allows the aircraft to fly certain flights of aflight schedule but not others. The management system 104 may compareonly those bids that relate to aircraft that share those certain flightsof the flight schedule. In another embodiment, a management system 104may compare dissimilar bids from a supplier 102 with those from anothersupplier, such as where some or all of the bids compared relate toaircraft able to fly flights that have little or no overlap betweenthem. For example, the management system 104 may compare bids foraircraft that service different flights where such comparison isappropriate.

In one embodiment, an agreement may exist between the operator of themanagement system 104 and the supplier 102 and a bid submitted by thesupplier to the management system incorporates one or more portions ofthe agreement. For example, a bid may implicitly refer to an agreementwith the supplier 102 that submits the bid and/or may incorporate byreference terms from that agreement. For example, a bid may contain onlya price, but may be interpreted by the management system as statingthat, at that price, the supplier 102 is offering the use of an aircraftunder the terms of the agreement with the operator of the managementsystem 104 given certain conditions (e.g., aircraft type, date,originating airport).

In some embodiments, the management system 104 may compare present bidswith previous or historical bids for aircraft. For example, present bidsfor aircraft may be compared to historical bids for aircraft flyingsimilar or the same flights. As another example, present bids foraircraft may be compared to historical bids for aircraft flyingpartially overlapping and/or completely distinct flights. As anotherexample, historical bids for aircraft may be selected by the managementsystem 104 and used to create a representative bid (e.g., average) for aparticular unit of aircraft (e.g., an average bid for a day's use from aBoston-area airport). In some embodiments, the management system 104 maycompare a combination of different types of bids and metrics to apresent bid. For example, any type of determinations made in generatingfare structures, as described further herein, may be used in comparingor evaluating present bids.

As described further herein, the management system 104 may process,compare and/or analyze bids with respect to each other. The managementsystem 104 may use availability of aircraft reflected by and associatedwith the bids to create a virtual inventory of the aircraft. The virtualinventory may be virtual in several respects. In one embodiment, thevirtual inventory of aircraft includes aircraft that have been offeredto be available on a certain date, but not committed to fly flights onthat date until a later time, if at all. In another embodiment, thevirtual inventory of aircraft may be controlled by a supplier 102 (e.g.,through an update to availability) at any time before the aircraft iscommitted to fly on a particular date. For example, as described furtherherein, a supplier 102 may modify the availability of an aircraft basedon rules of the management system 104 and/or based on a contract betweenthe management system and the supplier. Several suppliers 102, withpotentially overlapping availability of aircraft (e.g., availability onthe same date, availability at the same originating location), mayprovide the management system 104 with a virtual inventory of aircraft.

The management system 104 may use a virtual inventory of aircraft tocreate a reservation inventory for flights in a flight schedule. Asdescribed further herein, based on availability and bid information fromsupplier(s) 102, the management system 104 may provide a certainreservation inventory with available seats in one or more bookingclasses to the computer flight system 106 for flights in the flightschedule. Also as described further herein, based on determinations madewith respect to the virtual inventory and/or various analyses, themanagement system 104 may adjust booking class inventories with thecomputer flight system 106 for one or more flights in order to limitrisk and maximize expected and/or known profitability. In oneembodiment, the logic and/or processors included in a management system104 may be co-located or shared with the computer flight system 106. Inanother embodiment, a management system 104 may be located separatelyand may transmit information (e.g., an instruction) to the computerflight system 106. For example, information from the management system104 may cause the computer flight system 106 to adjust a stored value,such as a booking class inventory, as described further herein.

In one embodiment, described further herein, a flight schedule may becreated and a fare structure may be created before aircraft are known bythe management system 104 to be available to fly flights of the flightschedule. For example, before aircraft are identified by suppliers 102as available to fly flights on the flight schedule, the managementsystem 104 may create the flight schedule and an associated farestructure and provide both to the computer flight system 106. As anotherexample, a flight schedule may be created based on previous oranticipated demand. As another example, a fare structure may be createdbased on historical data, rather than any present bids. As anotherexample, a flight schedule and/or a fare structure may be created basedon current contracts with suppliers and potential aircraft that may beavailable in the future.

In one embodiment, described further herein, an available seat may beallocated to a booking class inventory based on an initial bid relatingto an aircraft available to fly a flight. For example, a flight scheduleincluding the flight may be sent to a computer flight system 106 withoutavailable seats for some or all of the flights. The management system104 may receive a bid with associated availability information for anaircraft and, based on that bid/availability information, the managementsystem may cause (e.g., send an update instruction to) the computerflight system 106 to update one or more booking class inventories forone or more of the flights. In one embodiment, the number of availableseats in a reservation inventory (e.g., the total number of availableseats in all booking classes) on a flight is equal to a number ofavailable seats on a single aircraft available to fly the flight. Forexample, if only one aircraft is available to fly either of two flightsand has 50 available seats, then the reservation inventory will bepublished as 50 for each flight. As another example, if a first aircraftavailable to fly a flight has 50 available seats and a second aircraftavailable to fly a flight has 75 seats, then the reservation inventorywill be published as 75. In one embodiment, if a plurality of aircraftare each available to fly one or more flights, a certain aircraft isselected by the management system 104 as a primary option for flying theplurality of flights, and the available seats or the unused physicalcapacity for the primary option aircraft will be used as the totalreservation inventory. For example, if a first aircraft available to flya flight has 50 available seats and is chosen as the primary option forflying the flight, even though a second aircraft available to fly theflight has 75 seats, then the reservation inventory will be published as50. In some embodiments, the reservation inventories for a plurality offlights may be related to the physical capacity (e.g., total seatingcapacity) for multiple aircraft for which bids have been received andare available to fly those flights. For example, if the total physicalcapacity of an aircraft inventory capable of flying a plurality offlights is equal to 200 seats, such as with two aircraft each with 100available seats, then 200 seats may be allocated to the reservationinventories for each of the plurality of flights. As described furtherherein, booking class inventories may be modified by a management systemin response to bookings and/or determinations made with respect to costsfor the flight.

The management system 104 may update certain information submitted tothe computer flight system 106 based on rules and/or contract(s) withthe computer flight system. In one embodiment, the computer flightsystem 106 establishes the same or similar rules for each submittingentity, such as the management system 104, or other entities submittingflight schedules, fare structures, reservation inventories, and/orbooking classes. For example, other submitting entities may includescheduled air carriers. In another embodiment, the computer flightsystem 106 may establish distinct rules for the management system 104 toupdate information it has submitted to the computer flight system. Forexample, the computer flight system 106 may allow updates to a flightschedule of future flights only certain times during each week. Asanother example, the computer flight system 106 may allow updates to aflight schedule of future flights at regular intervals throughout a day.As another example, the computer flight system 106 may allow updates toa booking class inventory immediately and in real-time. As anotherexample, the computer flight system 106 may allow updates to a farestructure only at certain times during the day.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a method 200 for interfacing with acomputer flight system through updating a booking class inventory withthe computer flight system. The method includes creating a flightschedule in step 202, determining relationships between the flights instep 204, receiving information relating to an aircraft in step 206, andupdating a booking class inventory in step 208.

The method 200 includes creating a flight schedule in step 202. A flightschedule may include more flights than could be served by an inventoryof aircraft that are available and/or have received bids for operating.For example, the number of aircraft available to originate from anairport may be physically unable to fly each of the flights on theflight schedule that originate from that airport. The number of aircraftavailable to originate from a particular location may include a numberof aircraft resident at the location, a number of aircraft available tofly from the location on a particular date, and/or a number of aircraftthat are committed to fly to the location in sufficient time to operateanother later flight leaving from the location. As described furtherherein, an inventory of aircraft may not be sufficient to fly each ofthe flights in the flight schedule, particularly if portions of theinventory are virtual or changing. For example, an aircraft inventorymay be subject to some condition (e.g., on accepting a bid) and/oraircraft may be removed from availability (e.g., based on a booking,based on a supplier's actions).

A flight schedule may be created in step 202 based on historical data,present market conditions, and/or other factors. For example, passengersmay commit to flights or a block of seats on a flight before a flightschedule is created in step 202. As another example, flights withhistorically popular origin/destination pairs and flight times may beincluded in the flight schedule. These and other data may be used tocreate a flight schedule in step 202. However, as described furtherherein, aircraft inventory need not be known or guaranteed to beavailable before the flight schedule is created in step 202. Asdescribed further herein, the flight schedule may be sent to a computerflight system after it is created in step 202.

The method 200 includes determining relationships between flights instep 204. When a flight schedule is presented (e.g., sent) to a computerflight system, the flight schedule may be interpreted by the computerflight system to include only independent flights. Independent flightsmay be operated without any requirement or dependency on another of theindependent flights operating or not operating. For example, a flightschedule may be populated with independent flights that each may beflown without a requirement that any other flight in the flight scheduleis flown or not flown. In step 204, a system operating the method, suchas a computer system described further herein, determines one or morerelationships between flights in a flight schedule. For example, amanagement system may establish dependencies between flights, risk andbenefit relationships between flights, or other relationships betweenflights. In one embodiment, a relationship is determined in step 204that if a first flight is committed to be flown, then a second flightmay not be flown. For example, such a relationship may be determined instep 204 based on a limited inventory of aircraft to fly the first andsecond flights. In another embodiment, a relationship is determined instep 204 that if a first flight is flown non-stop, a second flight mustbe flown with one stop. In one embodiment, determining a relationship instep 204 may include determining how one flight is affected by a bid foran aircraft on another flight, a booking on another flight, or a changein availability for an aircraft flying another flight. For example, abooking may affect or change an availability for an aircraft, such asthrough commitment of the aircraft to fly a particular flight or throughmaking the aircraft available to fly the particular flight. Thatavailability change may, in turn, be determined to affect the allocationof other aircraft and/or costs associated with aircraft allocations,such as through different costs to operate different aircraft (e.g.,costs from suppliers for using aircraft). As another example, a bookingon one flight may affect a physical capacity of another flight, such asthrough commitment of an aircraft and/or reallocation of an aircraftbetween flights. For example, an aircraft may be assigned to aparticular flight (e.g., through commitment to fly the flight, throughbeing selected as a primary aircraft for that flight before a booking isreceived) based on a booking for another flight due to one or severalfactors described further herein, such as cost of operating an aircraft,financial risk (e.g., for a supplier, for an entity operating amanagement system) involved with committing an aircraft, and/orrestrictions on an aircraft for flying the one or more flights. Otherrelationships between flights, how those relationships may change, andresponsive steps with respect to reservation inventories for thoseflights are described further herein.

The method 200 includes receiving information about an aircraft in step206. The information received in step 206 may be received from anysource, including external sources, sources from within a managementsystem, sources associated with third parties, and sources related to amanagement system, as described further herein. For example, amanagement system may receive information about the aircraft in step 206from a portion of the management system (e.g., a memory) or anotherrelated system or entity. As another example, a management system mayreceive information about the aircraft in step 206 from a supplier or anoutside source, as described further herein. The information received instep 206 may include information about a bid, availability information,seating capacity or other constraints on an aircraft's service, or otherinformation that relates to an aircraft's ability to fly flights in theflight schedule or costs for the aircraft to fly those flights. Forexample, a supplier may send a bid for the use of an aircraft and/or maysend an update for a bid to a management system, and that bid or updatemay be received in step 206. As another example, a supplier may sendavailability information and/or may update availability informationpreviously sent to a management system, and that information may bereceived in step 206. Information may be received in step 206 in any ofseveral ways, including through electronic transmission, or throughanother indication that is received.

Allocating an available seat to a booking class inventory may be basedon information received about an aircraft in step 206. For example, aparticular booking class inventory may be allocated one or moreavailable seats based on information about bids and availability ofaircraft. In one embodiment, bids are compared, costs are calculated,committed and/or potential revenues are calculated, and booking classinventories are allocated seats to maximize profitability of theproposed flight. As described further herein, there may be severalbooking classes for a flight, and one or more booking class inventoriesmay have zero available seats. As described further herein, farestructures may be created with a fare for each of several bookingclasses on a flight and available seats may be assigned to one or morebooking class inventories based on a selection of a fare associated withthat booking class. Also as described further herein, the fare may beselected to match or approximate a revenue target for a booking (e.g.,including one or more seats) on the flight, and the revenue target maybe based on a number of factors.

The method 200 includes updating a booking class inventory in step 208.A booking class inventory may be updated in step 208 through adding orremoving one or more available seats to/from a booking class inventory.In one embodiment, an available seat is removed from one booking classinventory and added to another booking class inventory for the sameflight, thereby changing the fare at which the seat is offered. Inanother embodiment, all available seats from one booking class inventorymay be moved from that booking class inventory and added to anotherbooking class inventory, thereby closing sales of seats in one bookingclass and opening sales of seats in another booking class. As oneexample, only one booking class inventory for a flight may haveavailable seats at any one time. For example, changing the availableseats for a flight from one booking class inventory to another bookingclass inventory may change the fare at which any seat is available for aparticular flight. In another embodiment, one or more available seatsmay be removed from the reservation inventory of a flight and availableseats may be added to the reservation inventory of another flight, suchas based on a bid or a booking, as described further herein. Forexample, all available seats may be removed from one reservationinventory for a flight and, in some cases, as described further herein,some or all of the removed available seats may be added to thereservation inventory of another flight.

Updating the booking class inventory in step 208 may be performed basedon relationships between flights as determined in step 204. In oneembodiment, a booking class inventory may be updated in step 208 if anaircraft is committed to fly a first flight that is related to a secondflight. For example, an aircraft may be committed to fly a particularflight based on a booking of a seat on the first flight and the aircraftmay therefore be unable to fly a second flight. The method 200 mayresponsively update one or more booking class inventories in step 208 sothat there are zero available seats for each booking class in thereservation inventory for the second flight, for example if there is noother available aircraft to fly the second flight.

In another embodiment, one or more booking class inventories may beupdated in step 208 based on economic factors, as described furtherherein, to adjust the fare(s) offered for flight in response toinformation received about an aircraft. For example, a bid for anaircraft may be updated by a supplier, thus changing the effective costof flying flights associated with the aircraft. In one embodiment, inresponse to the updated bid, expected revenues from selling availableseats on a flight may be modified through updating a booking classinventory for the flight in step 208 to maintain profitability levels orrisk levels for operating that flight or other flights. In anotherembodiment, in response to a booking of a seat on a flight a managementsystem may modify an expected profitability level and/or a financialrisk level for another flight. For example, an aircraft may be committedto fly on a day based on the booking of a seat, and due to the bookingmay be able to fly other flights on that day at a reduced incrementalcost, thereby increasing the profitability level of those flights and/orreducing the risk of offering available seats on those flights at acertain fare. In one embodiment, in response to information related toan aircraft, such as a bid and/or a booking of as seat on a firstflight, one or more booking class inventories are updated in step 208for one or more additional flights in the flight schedule.

In one embodiment, updating a booking class inventory in step 208 isperformed along with maintaining relationships between flights. Forexample, as described further herein, aircraft may be available to flycertain pools of flights that overlap, allowing a first aircraft to flyone flight of a pool of flights and another aircraft to potentially flyother flight(s) in that pool. In response to a bid for an aircraft or abooking of a seat on a flight, the relationships between flights may bemanaged, updated, and/or maintained, such as through adjusting availableseats between booking class inventories for a flight or throughadjusting total reservation inventories between flights. For example, anaircraft may be committed to fly a flight and other aircraft may not beavailable to service potential bookings on other related flights In oneembodiment, a booking on a first flight may affect an incremental costof operating another flight and, in response, one or more booking classinventories of the other flight may be updated in step 208, as describedfurther herein. For example, a booking on a flight leg (e.g., fromlocation A to location B) of a one-stop flight (e.g., from location A tolocation C) may affect the incremental cost of operating the one-stopflight, and the booking class inventories related to the one-stop flightmay be updated in step 208. As another example, a booking on a flightleg (e.g., from location A to location B) that is shared by a one-stopflight (e.g., from location A to location C) may affect aircraftavailability, such as committing the only available aircraft to fly fromlocation A to location B and thus a booking class inventory for anotherflight (e.g., a non-stop flight from location A to location C) will beupdated in step 208 to include no available seats.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a method 300 for interfacing with acomputer flight system through maintaining a pool of flights. The method300 includes creating a fare structure in step 302. The fare structuremay be created in step 302 to include a range of potential fares, witheach fare associated with a particular booking class. For example, asdescribed further herein, a fare structure for a particular flight mayhave multiple booking classes each with a fare determined to meet one ormore economic criteria, such as expected profitability and/or risklevels (e.g., for meeting expected revenue levels). A range of expectedfares includes discrete fares assigned to each booking class within thefare structure during the creation of the fare structure in step 302. Inone embodiment, one or more discrete fares assigned to booking classesof the fare structure created in step 302 are discrete fare(s)determined from costs of operating a particular flight, such as costsfor using the aircraft on the flight. In another embodiment, one or morediscrete fares assigned to booking classes of the fare structure createdin step 302 are discrete fare(s) determined from costs (e.g.,incremental costs) of operating other flights in a flight schedule, suchas related flights belonging to a pool of potentially combinable flights(e.g., sharing a flight leg). In another embodiment, one or morediscrete fares assigned to booking classes of the fare structure createdin step 302 are discrete fare(s) determined from operating costs foroperating a management system described herein.

In one embodiment, a fare structure is created in step 302 before a bidor availability information is received for an aircraft capable offlying one of the flights governed by the fare structure. For example, afare structure may be created in step 302 based on historical trends,anticipated costs, competitive fares for the same or similar routes,transportation options that serve as alternatives to aircraft flights,or other relevant data. In another embodiment, a fare structure iscreated in step 302 using present bid information and/or availabilityinformation relating to an aircraft. For example, a contract with asupplier, such as an existing contract with the supplier related toaircraft that may be available at a later time, may be used to calculatefares to be used in creating a fare structure in step 302.

In one embodiment, a fare structure may be created in step 302 usingfares determined to maximize profitability and minimize risk givenincomplete information about aircraft availability and costs associatedwith using the aircraft. For example, a supplier of aircraft may bid foran aircraft and that supplier may be selected as a primary supplier. Ifthat primary supplier later decreases availability through removing anaircraft (e.g., an aircraft not yet committed to fly a flight), asecondary supplier with an available aircraft may be selected as theprimary supplier potentially to operate the affected flights. A fareoffered for one of the affected flights may then change (e.g., apotential passenger will see the change in selling price for a ticket onthe affected flight) from one fare in the fare structure to another farein the fare structure. As described further herein, a management systemmay accomplish the fare shift through updating the number of availableseats in booking class inventories for the affected flights. As anotherexample, fares may be selected in creating the fare structure in step302 before any bids are received for aircraft available to fly flightsgoverned by the fare structure.

In one embodiment, fares selected for creating a fare structure in step302 may reflect business risk factors. For example, the first booking ofa ticket for a flight may not cover the full operating cost for thatflight. The difference between the revenue of the first booking (e.g.,of one or more available seats) and a related operating cost plus marginat least partially establishes a risk level associated with committingto operate the flight with only that first booking. The risk level maybe offset by the revenue generated by future bookings on this flight orflights operated by the same aircraft. The risk level may also includethe opportunity cost of not flying other flights which may produceadditional revenue.

The method 300 includes monitoring an aircraft inventory in step 304. Anaircraft inventory may be entirely virtual, owned/controlled by anotherparty (e.g., another supplier) and/or may contain owned/controlledaircraft or aircraft with guaranteed availability. In one embodiment,monitoring an aircraft inventory in step 304 may include trackinginventory as it is adjusted, such as by suppliers submitting, updatingand/or withdrawing bids for aircraft and/or availability of aircraft.

The method 300 includes monitoring bids in step 306. As describedfurther herein, bids may include information about an aircraft,including constraints of the aircraft and cost for operating theaircraft. Monitoring bids in step 306 may include receiving bids from asupplier and/or contacting a supplier (e.g., through automated means)for updates to bids. In alternative embodiments, bookings may bemonitored, such as through requesting updates on booking information,through receiving information about bookings (described further herein),through communications with a computer flight system, and/or throughindirect indications of bookings.

Monitoring aircraft inventory in step 304 and/or monitoring bids in step306 may be performed through machines or computers such as throughmonitoring a location in memory for an update or receiving acommunication regarding aircraft inventory or bids. For example,information relating to bids or inventories of available aircraft may bestored in data storage elements and referenced as part of the monitoringsteps, such as in either step 304 or step 306. Monitoring aircraftinventory in step 304 and/or monitoring bids in step 304 may beperformed continually, near continually (e.g., at a hardware pollingrate), or periodically.

The method 300 includes maintaining a pool of flights in step 308. Inone embodiment, a pool of flights includes a plurality of flights whosereservation inventories are mutually dependent on an inventory of one ormore aircraft unit(s), wherein the change of the operating cost oravailability of an aircraft unit or a booking on a first flight in thepool may necessitate modifying a reservation inventory of a secondflight in the pool. In another embodiment, a pool of flights includes aplurality of independent flights, as described further herein, whereinthe flights share no common physical flight leg. In another embodiment,a pool of flights includes the plurality of flights that may be modifieddue to a change in availability of a particular aircraft unit and/or dueto a booking on a first flight. For example, a pool of flights may bemaintained in step 308 based on relationships between the flights in thepool and may be performed in response to an updated bid, such as achange in availability information, and/or a booking (e.g., for one ofthe flights in the pool). As described further herein, a flight withinthe pool of flights may be classified as a provisional flight, a doubleprovisional flight, and/or a committed flight. In one example, theflight may be a double provisional. In another example, all flights inthe pool are categorized as a provisional flight or as a committedflight. Maintaining a pool of flights in step 308 may include modifyingthe classification of a flight, such as from a provisional flight to acommitted flight based on a booking of a seat on that flight.

In one embodiment, maintaining a pool of flights in step 308 includesone or more steps, including calculating a cost in step 310, selecting afare in step 312, and/or assigning an available seat to a booking classinventory in step 314. Calculating a cost in step 310 may be performedusing a number of different types of data, including operating costdata, other cost data (e.g., depreciation), and/or risks of costschanging. In one embodiment, calculating a cost related to a flight instep 310 may only use data related to that flight, such as a cost ofoperating an aircraft on that flight, the physical capacity of theaircraft, and/or the aircraft's ability to fly other flights. In anotherembodiment, calculating a cost related to a flight in step 310 uses datarelated to other flights, as described further herein. For example, acost for operating a flight may depend on cost data for any otherflights connecting to or otherwise related to the flight (such as beingpotentially combinable). In another embodiment, calculating a costrelated to a flight in step 310 may be performed through calculating anincremental cost, such as the cost of serving an additional destination.For example, an incremental cost may be calculated in consideration ofthe status (e.g., booked, yet to be booked) of a related flights and/orin consideration of costs associated with the related flights. In otherembodiments, a cost calculated in step 310 may be an operating cost, anoverhead cost, a fixed cost, and/or a variable cost. In someembodiments, calculating a cost in step 310 may be part of determiningthat a cost has changed. For example, a cost may change due to thechange of data on which the cost depends, such as a bid from a supplier.Determining a cost has changed may include calculating a cost in step310 and may include determining a change in the data on which the costdepends, without an explicit calculating or re-calculating of the cost.

In one embodiment, selecting a fare for a flight in step 312 isperformed based on a cost associated with the flight. For example, afare may be selected from a range of fares in a fare schedule thatapproximates an incremental cost of carrying a passenger on the flight.For the first booking received for a flight (e.g., of one or moreavailable seats), the incremental cost of servicing that booking (e.g.,flying the flight) may be equal to the entire cost of operating theflight, including the cost to operate the aircraft in addition tooperating costs for operating the management system, expected return onrisked assets, and/or overhead associated with any management system. Inaddition, margin may be added to an incremental cost for flying a firstflight. In one embodiment, a fare is selected in step 312 that matchesor approximates the entire cost of operating the flight. In anotherembodiment, a fare is selected in step 312 that is less than theincremental cost of servicing the next booking on the flight, subjectingthe entity that honors the first booking (e.g., an entity operating themanagement system, a supplier) to financial risk. In one embodiment, afare is selected in step 312 based on a level of acceptable financialrisk for booking available seats at the selected fare.

For subsequent booking(s) received for a flight (e.g., when a secondbooking is received) or for bookings on flights related as describedfurther herein, the incremental cost for servicing the subsequentbooking (e.g., including operating the flight with an additionalpassenger) may be significantly reduced. In one embodiment, a fare inthe fare structure is designated as a “fill fare” and selecting the farein step 312 is performed by selecting the “fill fare” for any bookingsafter the first booking. In another embodiment, a fare is selected instep 312 based on increasing profitability for additional seats bookedon the flight or based on mitigating risk on a related flight.Relationships between flights that may affect selection of fares in step312 are described further herein. For example, a fare selected in step312 may be based on a change in incremental cost due to a potential oractual combination with another flight that is currently committed tooperate. As another example, a fare may be selected in step 312 in orderto provide additional revenue to offset the risk associated with a firstbooking on another flight (e.g., including an unrelated flight) that hasa large incremental cost associated with committing to a first bookingon the other flight. As another example, a fare for a first flight maybe selected in step 312 based on a booking on a second flight that iscombinable with the first flight.

Assigning an available seat to a booking class inventory in step 314 maybe performed based on the fare selected in step 312. For example, asdescribed further herein, a booking class inventory associated with thefare selected in step 312 may be assigned one or more available seats instep 314. As described further herein, updating a booking classinventory, such as assigning a seat to a booking class inventory in step314, may be performed such that only the one booking class inventory hasavailable seats and that booking class inventory corresponds to the fareselected in step 310.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method 400 for interfacing with acomputer flight system through modifying levels of service of a futurecommitted aircraft flight. The method 400 includes receiving in step 402information that a booking for a first flight is booked at a first levelof service. A level of service for a booking may include flight time, anumber of stops (including no stops) required for the flight, arrivaltimes (e.g., arriving earlier or later), or other aspects of the flightincorporated in the booking. A level of service may be implicit in thebooking, such as an expected flight time between departure and arrivaltimes. A level of service may be explicitly stated, such as a number ofstops (including no stops) required for the flight or the type ofaircraft used. Therefore, information that a booking has been acceptedat a first level of service may be received in step 402 throughreceiving basic information about the booking and implicitly receivinginformation about the level of service and/or may be received in step402 through receiving explicit indications of the level of serviceassociated with the booking.

The method 400 includes receiving information in step 404 that a seathas been booked on a second flight. For example, a computer flightsystem 106 may provide information about bookings made on flights tooutside entities, and a management system, as described further herein,may receive this information in step 404 from the computer flightsystem, such as over a network. Information received in step 404 maytake several forms, such as an indication of a booking, or indirectinformation from which a booking may be inferred. In one embodiment, thesecond flight may be combined with a first flight. For example, a secondflight may share a common physical flight leg with the first flight. Asanother example, the second flight may be related to the first flight,such as a connecting flight with the first flight. In anotherembodiment, the second flight is different from the first flight. Forexample, the second flight may be unrelated to the first flight.

The method 400 includes transmitting an indication in step 406 that thefirst flight is to be operated at a second level of service. In oneembodiment, the second level of service is superior to the first levelof service. For example, the second level of service may provide anearlier arrival time or fewer number of stops between origin anddestination. As described further herein, an aircraft or routing ofaircraft originally intended to be flown on the first flight may bere-routed and/or re-assigned to another flight and the replacementaircraft or routing for the first flight may be performed at the secondlevel of service.

FIGS. 5-10 show various embodiments for managing a plurality ofprovisional flights and commitments of aircraft to certain aircraftflights. As described further herein, flight schedules may contain moreflights than can be flown by an aircraft inventory that is guaranteed oreven known to be available. Flight schedules may contain flights termed“provisional flights” that may or may not be flown and are not yetcommitted to be flown. Flight schedules may also contain flights termed“double provisional flights” that may or may not be flown and do nothave an aircraft at the origin location absent other factors, such asanother flight being committed to be flown to the double provisionalflight's origin location. Other flights in a flight schedule may becommitted to be flown, such as after a flight has a booking for a seaton the flight.

As described further herein, booking class inventories may be updated(e.g., through communicating with a computer flight system) in order tomodify the fare at which a ticket for a particular flight is offered tobe sold. For each provisional flight, available seats for a bookingclass may be offered for sale at a fare selected as described furtherherein. Reservation inventories on provisional flights may includeavailable seats in one or more booking class inventories, seats whichmay be removed after an aircraft is committed to fly another flight. Forexample, if either of two flights may be flown by one aircraft, but thataircraft may not fly both flights, both flights may be classified asprovisional flights and may have reservation inventories with availableseats. In response to a booking on one of the flights, if there is noother aircraft that can fly the second flight, the reservation inventoryfor the second flight may be modified to indicate zero available seatsacross all booking class inventories. As described further herein, bids,bookings, availability information, and/or other information about anaircraft may cause certain booking class inventories to be modified tozero while one or more booking class inventories remain with availableseats, or are modified to add an available seat. However, in situationswhere the booking of one flight depletes the aircraft availability suchthat there is not an aircraft available to fly another flight, all thebooking class inventories for the other flight will be reduced to zero,thereby closing that other flight to bookings. Additional aircraft thatcould fly the flight may be available or become available, andadditional seats may be added to the reservation inventory for theflight based on the additional aircraft, subject to the selection offare associated with the booking class(es) and profitability/costanalyses described further herein. For example, if an additionalaircraft is already known to be available and could fly a flight, suchas an aircraft that has not been selected as a primary option for flyingthe flight, seats may be added/subtracted from the reservation inventoryfor the flight to match the capacity of the additional aircraft andavailable seats may be allocated from one booking class inventory toanother booking class inventory based on costs of the additionalaircraft, as described further herein. Additional available aircraft maythereby keep a flight open for bookings, potentially at a new fare levelfor the newly-available seats.

Certain relationships between provisional flights, double provisionalflights, and committed flights may be based on the capabilities ofaircraft inventories to fly the flights. For example, a pool of flightsmay include flights that may be flown by a plurality of aircraft and mayinclude in the pool of flights provisional, double provisional andcommitted flights. In a pool of flights, relationships between theflights may be maintained, as described further herein, through updatingone or more reservation inventories for the flights within the pools,and thereby modifying which flights have available seats and/or whichfares are offered for the available seats, such as through allocatingthe available seats between one booking class inventory and anotherbooking class inventory.

Various scenarios are presented for managing a pool of flights includingprovisional flights in FIGS. 5-10 with a simplifying assumption thatonly one aircraft is available to fly all of the flights. Therefore,based on a booking for a flight within the pool of flights, certainother flights in the pool may have their reservation inventories reducedto zero available seats and therefore may be closed for sale. Flightsare referred to in FIGS. 5-10 by their physical flight legs betweenlocations in order to clarify the routing of the flights shown in eachscenario. Flights may be referred to in a flight schedule by theindividual flight legs and/or as flights, such as one-stop flights ormultiple-stop flights.

FIG. 5 illustrates a scenario of a committed flight leg 502 connectingto two provisional flight legs 504 and 506. Presuming that there areavailable seats on committed flight leg 502, booking classes for eachflight leg initially have available seats and bookings withorigin/destination pairs AB, AC, AD, BC, and BD may be offered for sale.If either provisional flight leg 504 or provisional flight leg 506 has aseat booked, then the other provisional flight leg must have allavailable seats removed from its booking class inventories.

FIG. 6 illustrates a scenario of a committed flight leg 602 connectingto two provisional flight legs 608 and 610 at location A and connectingto two provisional flight legs 604 and 606 at location B. Presuming thatthere are available seats on flight leg 602, reservation inventories forflight legs initially have available seats for origin/destination pairsAB, AC, AD, BC, and BD may be offered for sale for booking classes withfares selected as described further herein. If either provisional flightleg 604, or 606 has a seat booked, then the other provisional flight legmust have all available seats removed from its reservation inventory(e.g., removing all available seats from all booking class inventories).Presuming that there is an aircraft available to originate from locationE and/or location F (e.g., one or more additional available aircraft),reservation inventories for flight legs may initially have availableseats with origin/destination pairs EA, EB, EC, ED, FA, FB, FC, FD, AB,AC, AD, BC, and BD and both reservation inventories for the respectiveflight legs and booking class inventories for each flight may bedetermined with respect to bids, bookings and/or costs as describedfurther herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates a scenario of two provisional flight legs 702 and 704originating at location A. Reservation inventories for each provisionalflight leg initially have available seats with origin/destination pairsAB and AC that may be offered for sale through various booking classinventories as described further herein. If either provisional flightleg 702 or 704 has an available seat booked, then the other provisionalflight leg must have all available seats removed from its reservationinventory (e.g., removing all available seats from all booking classinventories).

FIG. 8 illustrates a scenario of a provisional flight leg 802originating from location A and flying to location B and a provisionalflight leg 806 originating from location A and flying to location C.Double provisional flight legs 804 and 808 initially may not haveavailable seats in their reservation inventories, as described furtherherein. At least one booking class inventory for provisional flight legs802 and 806 initially has available seats. As described further herein,flight legs may be combined and listed in a flight schedule as one-stopor multiple-stop flights. In one embodiment, a non-stop flight betweenan origin and a destination may have assigned a different flight numberand/or a different routing number from a one-stop flight between theorigin and the destination. For example, while non-stop bookings fromlocation A to location B may be offered on flight leg 802 through afirst flight number, a one-stop booking may also be offered fromlocation A to location B on a second flight number through a combinationof flight leg 806 and flight leg 808. In one embodiment, the booking fora one-stop flight from location A to location C is offered at adifferent price than the price for a non-stop booking. As describedfurther herein, a non-stop booking on flight leg 802 may result inremoving all available seats from the reservation inventory of thenon-stop flight from location A to location C, and removing allavailable seats from the one-stop flight from location A to location B,such as when a booking on flight leg 802 results in commitment of theonly aircraft available to fly flight legs 806 and 808.

With a single presumed aircraft available to originate from location A,a management system may determine that it is undesirable, notcost-effective, or otherwise unworkable to fly the aircraft betweenlocations B and C on flight legs 804 or 808 without a first booking ofone or more seats on flight leg 802 or 806. For example, a managementsystem may determine that it may be undesirable or not cost-effective tofly an aircraft from location A to location B with no booked seats alongflight leg 802 in order thereafter to service a flight leg 804 fromlocation B to location C. In one embodiment, the reservation inventoriesfor double provisional flight legs 804 and 808 initially have noavailable seats (e.g., in any booking class inventory). In anotherembodiment, double provisional flight legs 804 and/or 808 are notincluded in a flight schedule sent to a computer flight system until abooking is received on flight leg 802 or 806.

FIG. 9 illustrates a scenario of a committed flight leg 902 connectingto two provisional flight legs 904 and 910, with double provisionalflight legs 906 and 908. Presuming that there are available seats oncommitted flight leg 902, reservation inventories for flight legs 902,904 and 910 initially have available seats. As described further herein,in various embodiments, double provisional flight legs 906 and 908(shown as dashed lines) may not be part of a flight schedule sent to acomputer flight system until the double provisional flight leg isreclassified as a provisional flight leg and a reservation inventorywith available seats is created for it. For example, in embodimentswithout double provisional flight legs 906 and 908 included in theflight schedule, the scenario is similar to that shown in FIG. 5. Inother embodiments, double provisional flight legs 906 and 908 are partof a flight schedule but available seats may be allocated to theirreservation inventories only after there is at least one booking on oneof the provisional flight legs 904 or 910. For example, bookings ondouble provisional flight leg 906 may be offered for sale only after atleast one booking on flight leg 904 has been received or after anavailable aircraft is committed to be at location C.

FIG. 10 illustrates a scenario similar to that of FIG. 9 wherein abooking was made for a flight that includes flight leg 1004 (e.g.,one-stop flight from location A to location C including flight legs 1002and 1004), thereby reclassifying flight leg 1004 as a committed flightleg and committing the assumed single aircraft to fly from location B tolocation C. Based on this commitment, the original provisional flightleg from location B to location D must now route through location C as aone-stop flight with two flight legs 1004 and 1006. (Originalprovisional flight leg from location B to location D is shown in FIG. 9as flight leg 910, but it has been removed from FIG. 10 based on thepresumed commitment.) As described further herein, this may result inupdates to booking class inventories for a flight from location B tolocation D, such as based on changes in determined costs for thatflight, as described further herein.

FIG. 11 is schematic representation of an embodiment of a computersystem for interfacing with a computer flight system. System 1100includes a machine 1102 (e.g., computer) that is connected to a network1104 and that includes a processor 1106, a display 1108, a storage 1110,and an interface module 1112. Machine 1102 may also include, forexample, another storage in addition to storage 1110, such as a memory(e.g., volatile, nonvolatile), a power supply unit, a real-time clock, ahard disk drive, and/or a network interface card (NIC). Interface module1112 may include or be adapted to work with display 1108, and mayfurther include an input/output unit, a keyboard, and/or a pointingdevice (e.g., for controlling a cursor). Machine 1102 may connect tonetwork 1104, which may include the Internet, a portion of the Internet,a local area network (LAN), which may or may not have connections to theInternet, a wide area network (WAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN)or other networks. The network 1104 may also include a wired network,power-line network, radio, wireless, 802.11 network, infrared network,ultrasound network, etc. The network 1104 may be implemented usingcompatible technologies for communicating electronically with any othersystems described herein as well as any parts of those systems. Manyother devices and modifications that are well known may be used insteadof, or in addition to, the components shown of system 1100, withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the description herein.

In one embodiment, the management system 104 described further hereinmay be implemented using system 1100 or a variation of the system tocarry out its functions. In several embodiments, suppliers 102, alsodescribed herein, may use a system 1100 or a variation of the system tocarry out the functions of the suppliers and/or to communicate with themanagement system 104. In several embodiments, computer flight systems106 may be implemented using a system 1100 or a variation of the system.

The system 1100 includes a content storage 1114 connected to the network1104. In one embodiment, the data storage 1114 is a public orsemi-public online repository of information relating to aircraft. Forexample, a data storage 1114 may contain information from suppliers suchas bids and aircraft availability and access may be limited so thatcertain suppliers may access only certain types of data, such as datarelating to the supplier's bids and the bids of other suppliers. Inanother embodiment, the data storage 1114 is a private or proprietarystorage of information relating to aircraft. For example, a privatestorage may store historical data relating to bids and costs, supplier'sphysical inventory of aircraft, or other data for use by a managementsystem as described further herein.

In one embodiment, the data storage 1114 is used by the machine 1102 viaconnecting through the network 1104 in performance of the methodsdescribed further herein. In one embodiment, additional machines 1116 aand 1116 b perform some of the processes and/or run some of the programsdescribed herein. For example, calculations of cost(s) and/or risk(s) insupport of maintaining relationships between flights and processingnecessary updates to booking class inventories. In another embodiment,additional machines 1116 a and 1116 b may be used to access, control oroperate a management system, as described further herein.

Descriptions of methods herein may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware and/or in any combination thereof. For example, methods may beimplemented in hardware, such as computers (e.g., general purposemachines, embedded computing machines). Descriptions of apparatus orsystems herein may be implemented in software, firmware, hardware and/orin any combination thereof. For example, systems may be implemented asvirtual machines in software. Communication connections describedfurther herein may be implemented in any form of communicationstechnology or combination thereof, such as, for example, hardware bus,Internet Protocol (IP) connections, and/or proprietary connections. Forexample, in this description, various functions and operations may bedescribed as being performed by or caused by software code to simplifydescription. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what ismeant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution ofthe code by a processor, such as a microprocessor. Alternatively, or incombination, the functions and operations can be implemented usingspecial purpose circuitry, with or without software instructions, suchas using an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Embodiments can be implementedusing hardwired circuitry without software instructions, or incombination with software instructions. Thus, the techniques are limitedneither to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software,nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the dataprocessing system.

While some embodiments can be implemented in fully functioning computersand computer systems, various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a computing product in a variety of forms and are capableof being applied regardless of the particular type of machine orcomputer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

At least some aspects disclosed can be embodied, at least in part, insoftware. That is, the techniques may be carried out in a computersystem or other data processing system in response to its processor,such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions containedin a memory, such as ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory, cache or aremote storage device.

Routines executed to implement the embodiments may be implemented aspart of an operating system, middleware, service delivery platform, SDK(Software Development Kit) component, web services, or other specificapplication, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions referred to as “computer programs.” Invocation interfacesto these routines can be exposed to a software development community asan API (Application Programming Interface). The computer programstypically comprise one or more instructions set at various times invarious memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when readand executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computerto perform operations necessary to execute elements involving thevarious aspects.

A machine readable medium can be used to store software and data whichwhen executed by a data processing system causes the system to performvarious methods. The executable software and data may be stored invarious places including, for example, ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatilememory and/or cache. Portions of this software and/or data may be storedin any one of these storage devices. Further, the data and instructionscan be obtained from centralized servers or peer to peer networks.Different portions of the data and instructions can be obtained fromdifferent centralized servers and/or peer to peer networks at differenttimes and in different communication sessions or in a same communicationsession. The data and instructions can be obtained in entirety prior tothe execution of the applications. Alternatively, portions of the dataand instructions can be obtained dynamically, just in time, when neededfor execution. Thus, it is not required that the data and instructionsbe on a machine readable medium in entirety at a particular instance oftime.

Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited torecordable and non-recordable type media such as volatile andnon-volatile memory devices, read only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM), flash memory devices, floppy and other removable disks,magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media (e.g., Compact DiskRead-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), etc.), amongothers. The computer-readable media may store the instructions that maybe executed by processors.

The instructions may also be embodied in digital and analogcommunication links for electrical, optical, acoustical or other formsof propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc. However, propagated signals, such as carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc. are not tangible machinereadable medium and are not configured to store instructions.

In general, a tangible machine readable medium includes any mechanismthat provides (e.g., stores) information in a form accessible by amachine (e.g., a computer, network device, personal digital assistant,manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one or more processors,etc.).

In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combinationwith software instructions to implement the techniques. Thus, thetechniques are neither limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructionsexecuted by the data processing system.

Although some of the figures illustrate a number of operations in aparticular order, operations which are not order dependent may bereordered and other operations may be combined or broken out. While somereordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and so do not present anexhaustive list of alternatives. Moreover, it should be recognized thatcertain operations could be implemented in hardware, firmware, softwareor any combination thereof.

It is clear that many modifications and variations of this embodimentcan be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spiritof the novel art of this disclosure. For example, the systems and methodherein disclosed can be applied to many different reservations systems.Also, while specific reference to aircraft flight reservations may havebeen disclosed, other transportation reservations or other reservationsmay also be used. These modifications and variations do not depart fromthe broader spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and the examplescited here are illustrative rather than limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: storing availability datafor a plurality of aircraft, each capable of operating at least oneflight in a flight schedule; publishing the flight schedule to acomputer flight system that allows users of the computer flight systemto purchase available seats from a plurality of flights contained in thepublished flight schedule, the plurality of flights including a numberof flights that is greater than a number of possible flights that may beflown by the plurality of aircraft; receiving an indication of a bookingon a first aircraft flight of the plurality of flights; determining, viaa data processing system, that the booking causes a change in anavailability for an aircraft of the plurality of aircraft capable ofoperating a second aircraft flight of the plurality of flights in thepublished flight schedule that has no prior bookings; and instructingthe computer flight system to modify an operational status of the secondaircraft flight while the second aircraft flight is in the publishedflight schedule in order that the second aircraft flight will notoperate via instructing the computer flight system to remove allavailable seats from the second aircraft flight.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising creating, via the data processing system, theflight schedule prior to receiving the indication.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising creating a fare structure related to thesecond aircraft flight, the fare structure including a range of costsfor operating the second aircraft flight.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the instructing is performed further based on the change inavailability.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: calculating,via the data processing system, a cost to operate the second aircraftflight of the plurality of flights based on the booking; wherein theinstructing step is performed further based on the cost.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein the calculating the cost is further based on thechange in availability.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining, via the data processing system, based on the indication,that a cost has changed for operating the second aircraft flight,wherein the instructing is performed based further on the change incost.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first aircraft flight andthe second aircraft flight share no physical flight leg.
 9. The methodof claim 1, further comprising maintaining information about arelationship between a cost of operating an aircraft related to thefirst aircraft flight and a booking class inventory for the secondaircraft flight.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprisingmaintaining information about a relationship between the booking on thefirst aircraft flight and a booking class inventory for the secondaircraft flight.
 11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a system to:publish a flight schedule to a computer flight system that providesusers with access to purchase available seats from a plurality offlights, the published flight schedule containing the plurality offlights with a number of flights that is greater than a number ofpossible flights that may be flown by a plurality of aircraft stored inthe system; receive an indication of a booking on a first aircraftflight of the plurality of flights; determine, by a processor, that thebooking causes a change in availability of an aircraft of the pluralityof aircraft capable of operating a second aircraft flight of theplurality of flights in the published flight schedule that has no priorbookings; and instruct the computer flight system to modify anoperational status of the second aircraft flight in the published flightschedule in order that the second aircraft flight will not operate viainstructing the computer flight system to remove all available seatsfrom the second aircraft flight.
 12. The storage medium of claim 11,wherein the instructions further cause the system to instruct thecomputer flight system further based on the change in availability. 13.The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further causethe system to: calculate, based on the booking, a cost to operate thesecond aircraft flight of the plurality of flights; wherein the computerflight system is instructed to modify an operational status of thesecond aircraft flight based on the cost.
 14. A data processing system,comprising: at least one processor; and memory for storing an indicationof a booking on a first aircraft flight and a cost to operate a secondaircraft flight, wherein the memory stores instructions configured toinstruct the at least one processor to: publish a flight schedule to acomputer flight system that provides users access to purchase availableseats from a plurality of flights, the published flight schedulecontaining a plurality of flights with a number of flights that isgreater than a number of possible flights that may be flown by aplurality of aircraft stored in the memory; receive the indication ofthe booking on the first aircraft flight of the plurality of flights;determine that the booking causes a change in availability of anaircraft capable of operating a second aircraft flight of the pluralityof flights in the published flight schedule that has no prior bookings;and instruct, based on the cost, the computer flight system to modify anoperational status of the second aircraft flight in order that thesecond aircraft flight will not operate via instructing the computerflight system to remove all available seats from the second aircraftflight in the published flight schedule.
 15. The data processing systemof claim 14, wherein the instructions to the computer flight system arefurther based on the change in availability.
 16. The data processingsystem of claim 14, wherein the instructions further instruct the atleast one processor to: calculate the cost to operate the secondaircraft flight of the plurality of flights based on the booking;wherein the computer flight system is instructed to modify anoperational status of the second aircraft flight based on the cost.